A legal showdown is looming between award winning musician Makhadzi and her record label Open Mic Productions.
This after the Ganama hitmaker showed lawyers representing the record label the middle finger after they demanded a retraction and apology for her Twitter rant, dragging the record label over the weekend.
Ndivhudzannyi “Makhadzi” Ralivhona has refused to apologise and took to her Twitter on Thursday to announce that she will be releasing her new single under her own record label, Makhadzi Entertainment, despite pending contractual issues with the record label.
She wrote: “Auto renewal EP loading under Makhadzi entertainment. After 15 years of hard work. I will be getting to know how much I make on sales for the first time in my life. All thanks to everyone who was booking me all these years I was not gonna afford to live.”
In letters of demand sent to the singer and her lawyers Letseku Attorneys, Open Mic indicated that they would pursue a lawsuit against the stat for failure to retract and apologise to them by Midday on Friday.
“In light of the above, our client hereby demands an apology and retraction of the aforesaid false, harmful and defamatory statements, which must be also published through your client’s Twitter and Instagram accounts,” the letter reads.
However, Makhadzi is set to put up a fight as Sunday World understands that her lawyers have been instructed to take on Open Mic Productions if they pursue the lawsuit.
Sunday World also understands that another issue is raising behind the scenes between the record label and the songstress after she indicated to them that she will not be performing at any gigs that have been booked for her under the label for this month.
A source working on the singer’s case said the record label booked Makhadzi for various events prior to her contract expiring in March which have been billed for May.
“She was booked for a lot of gigs before her contract expired which were for March after her contract expired. One of them is sometime this month and it was a big gig so they can’t cancel. She says she won’t go and they are going after her for that. They have threatened to sue her for that contract,” the source said.
However, the singer and her lawyers have told the record label to bring it on as Makhadzi will not be performing under Open Mic Productions anymore, but her own record label.
She wrote on Twitter: “Book me now. Don’t book me via Open Mic because honestly I won’t show up, the contract has ended. I don’t want to fight with promoters and my fans.”
A week ago, the singer took to her social media pages to reveal that she has been working like a slave at the record label and has not seen a cent from sales from her albums including top selling Khokhovha and African Queen.
The record label disputed this on Wednesday through letters of demand stating that they have paid the muso over R7.9 million in the three years she has been contracted with them.
The label also claims to have paid the singer a R300 000 advance for a deposit towards her house in August 2021.
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